Author: Susan Finn

Day 10 – Colorado

America 2014

Today started out very nice.  Woke up in Pueblo, Colorado – breakfast at IHop. Yum!

We started the day on Route 25 to head to Denver, Colorado.  We picked up Route 470 around Denver, to Route 70 West and then through the Rocky Mountains.

Wow!  Unbelievable!

Until….the thunderstorms.

Rainstorm

double Rainbow

We had to stop several times due to poor visibility.  We did, however, carry on on our way to New Castle, Colorado.

It is difficult to describe in words what riding through these mountains is like.  It makes you feel very small in the universe. It also makes you realize the acheivments of man, being able to build roads through somehing created by something so much bigger.

We also went on a section of Interstate 70 called the Glenwood Canyon.

Glenwood Canyon

Again – Unbelievable!

Surrounded by stone.  Yet, “a river runs through it”.  The Colorado River runs along I70 for portions of the road.  Not other words to describe.  Just Unbelievable!

sunset in colorado on a harley motorcycle

Mileage-wise, not a long day – 282 miles, but time-wise a really long day with all of the stops.

road trip harley colorado

Tomorrow we head to Cortez, Colorado.

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Day 9 – First Mechanical Hiccup

America 2014

The day didn’t start out very well.  We were about 2 hours north on Route 385 towards our destination, Pueblo, Colorado.  Colton’s bike snapped a pinch bolt on one of the front forks.  Most of the oil that fills the forks ended up all over Colton and the motorcycle.  We had to backtrack about 50 miles to Tripp Harley Davidson in Amarillo, Texas. (It was like we were never, ever going to get out of Texas!) We got to Tripp around 1pm and didn’t end up leaving until 5 o’clock.  At least we got to have a rest and grab some lunch at Hooters.

We were still determined to get to Pueblo today!

From Amarillo, we were able to find a backroad (Route 1061).  That cut out some of Route 40 which we had taken earlier that day.  What is amazing is that the roads that we consider to be backroads have speed limits of 70 mph. Those roads have nothing on them.

Anyway, we made it back to Route 385 and connected to Route 87 to Route 25 North to Pueblo.

We enjoyed rding through the northeast corner of New Mexico where there was seriously beautiful scenery.Mountains

Finally got to Colorado.

colorado, roadtrip, harley

July-10_Colorado-Colton-1

Still, a 500 mile day.

texas to pueblo, colorado, harley davidson

Tomorrow, we look forward to seeing the Rockies.

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Day 8 – Still in Texas

America 2014

We left Lloyd and Susan’s this morning and headed north.  Did we mention Texas is HUGE!  We feel like we will never get out of the state!

Today we really got into some windmill fields.  There had to be over 100 miles of the wind turbines.  Thousands of them.

Oh – and then we saw quite a sight – a sign on the highway – Speed Limit 80 mph!!  How cool is that?!  So a good portion of today’s ride was pretty fast. We are glad that not everywhere is 80 mph.  Things go by too fast!

spped limit 80

It’s nice to be able to look around as you go, but so much of Texas is big open fields for as far as you can see.  So vast.  So HOT!

motorcylcle ride

road signs

on the road

on the road

clouds

Rode 414 miles today.

texas

Total to date; 2,856 miles in 8 days.

Heading to Pueblo, Colorado next.

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Day 7 – Winnie to Lake Hills, Texas

America 2014

Texas is HUGE!  So much flat…. open land.  Endless.  Traveled through Houston – just because.   Went around San Antonio up to Bandera – “Cowboy Capital of the World“.

Bandera is like and old western town.  We stopped into an old town saloon and met the owner, Kevin.
cowboy paraphernalia

Kevin is a Comanche Indian that does live history shows.  He’s been in some movies, too. He was a wicked cool guy.  Kevin owns a couple of wolves.  It was great to get to meet them.  They are awesome.Kevin-Comanche

Texas Longhorn

Then we headed to Lake Hills to visit with Lloyd and Susan.  It was really great to see them!  We had a great night just hanging out and talking.  It didn’t feel like 7 years for Mitch since he had seen one of his best friends.July 7, 2014 (1)

map

Did we mention – Texas is BIG!

From Winnie to Bandera to Lakehills, Texas  330 Miles

Next stop, Lubbock, Texas.

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Day 6 – New Orleans to Texas

America 2014

Left New Orleans on I10 heading west.  Never realized how many elevated roads there were in this area.  So many miles of roadway over water.

Covered Louisiana from east to west.  That was about 215 miles. Then, we hit Texas. It sure is hot here in Texas.

welcome to texas

The speed limit on the Interstate here is 75 mph. We stopped at the Welcome Center just over the border. We looked out the window to see an alligator!

alligator

There was a ton of traffic as we got closer to Winnie, TX.  We sat in miles and miles of traffic, but finally found a way around it. It was seriously HOT!. We pulled in to the Winnie Inn around 5pm.

We went across the Street to Al T’s Seafood & Steakhouse Restaurant. The menu sure was different than in New England.  The choices included fried alligator and catfish.  But, of course, we had the fried chicken and it was really GOOD!

new orleans to winnie, tx

Looking forward to the next leg of this journey.  We will stop off in Bandera, TX, “Cowboy Capital of the World” on our way to visit one of our oldest friends, Lloyd and his wife, Susan in Lakehills, TX.

Today: 298 miles

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Day 5 – Alabama to New Orleans

America 2014

Today started just outside Birmingham, Alabama in Trussville.  We continued south on I59 through Mississippi into Lousiana.

Welcome to Mississippi

Mississippi Friends

We got to New Orleans at around 3pm. Wow!  What a place!  All kinds of people partying in the streets.  So many people bars and clubs.  Lots of live music, everywhere!

Our Bed and Breakfast, The Lafitte Guest House, is a perfect place to stay. It is a very old house, built in the early 1800’s.

Bourbon Street, New OrleansToday’s mileage 355 miles.

Total so far: 1,815 miles.

Our next stop is Winnie, Texas, just outside Houston

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Day 3 – To North Carolina

America 2014

Hurricane Arthur has gone by and the sky is blue!  Today, we head down I85 toward Asheville, NC and beyond.
north carolina

7-4-14_map

Incredible view – as we are traveling down I85, all of a sudden the Blue Ridge Mountains just jump out on the horizon.  Then, as you reach them, the road changed in to up, down, long, winding turns.  Awesome ride!

Sun is hot.  Colton wore long sleeves to protect from sunburn.

asheville harleyStopped in to the Harley Dealer in Asheville, NC.  Closed for the holiday! But we did get to meet a couple of folks who had just left this morning from Myrtle Beach, SC to head to the Dragon.  They were great to talk to.  They invited us to visit them in Myrtle Beach sometime.  We exchanged numbers and continued our journey.  We got off of Route 85 at exit 27, Route 74 and headed off to Murphy, NC.

Awestruck!  Route 74 going through the Blue Ridge Mountains is unbelievable!  Lots of bikes.  Incredible riding!

We passed lots of areas filled with people who were whitewater rafting. (Now I know why it was so hard to find a place to stay tonight.)

We stopped at the Cherokee County Bike Shop. (It was called Cherokee – we HAD to stop) We met “Thumper” who told us about a place to go near our motel for our dinner.  So we did.  Doyle’s was a comfortable place to have dinner and a great place to watch people.

420 miles today.

Staying in Murphy, North Carolina.  Tomorrow – The Tail of the Dragon!

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Day 2 – Avoiding Hurricane Arthur

America 2014

Views from the road.

chicken transport - road trip

Saw 4 of these in just 5 minutes.  That’s alot of chickens.

view from the road

Rerouting our trip due to Hurricane Arthur.  No Outer Banks for us!

We did get to travel over the amazing Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.

chesapeake bay bridge tunnel

Wow – a 30 minute ride over a bridge that turns into a tunnel and then back into a bridge!

Once we got over the bridge and onto the mainland, we got a little lost and had to stop under a bridge on I64 to take a look at the map. We received a bit of southern hospitality when a guy stopped to make sure we were ok. He knew about the Tail of the Dragon so he gave us some great tips and directions.

We made it to South Hill, Virginia.  We were pretty tired and the skies were really threatening. We stayed in a hotel to wait out the storm.

304 miles today.

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